A bid to reduce the size of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System’s board failed for the second and likely final time Wednesday to pass the state House of Representatives. And it lost a few votes along the way.

With the legislation pending, the school board on its own voted last week to hire a firm to study how it can redistrict itself and reduce the number of board seats. Legislators on Wednesday said they wanted to leave that decision to the board, particularly since they're already working on it.

“This is what's in their purview to do,” said Rep. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge. “This is their job, let them do their job.”

Barrow and others also argued that the law would be unconstitutional. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that state statutes can’t place these kinds of restrictions on school boards, opponents of the legislation have argued.

Honore said that, because the school board has voted for a potential restructuring, they support the bill.

The legislation would have required the school board to follow through and make the changes. Without it, they can decide whether or not to take the consultant’s advice on restructuring and ultimately shrink the board.

The bill was amended so it would only go into effect if the school board didn’t move on the changes on its own by Aug. 1.

But that didn’t appease those who opposed the bill, who said in no uncertain terms that it was not supported by the school board.

“The school board, they are in favor of looking at a process of reapportioning themselves,” said Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge. “They are not in favor of this unconstitutional legislation that has been forced down their throats.”

The bill failed by a vote of 48 in favor to 44 against. It needed 53 votes to move on to the state Senate.